Audio 5:31
Pyne says Coalition were never 'ungentlemanly' in Parliament

Chris UhlmannUpdated
Thu Feb 13 09:40:00 EST 2014

There was disorder in the House yesterday afternoon with the Federal Opposition interrupting proceedings after the Coalition shut down a debate on job losses. It confused a first-term Liberal MP so much, he mistakenly voted with Labor. The Government says it was a disrespectful display and will investigate ways of making Parliament operate more smoothly.

Transcript

CHRIS UHLMANN: There was disorder in the House yesterday afternoon with the Federal Opposition repeatedly interrupted proceedings after the Coalition shut down a debate on job losses.

It confused a first-term Liberal MP so much, he mistakenly voted with Labor.

The Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke says the tactics are justified:

TONY BURKE: The Parliament did descend into chaos yesterday and you had a situation where Labor, quite rightly, wanted to be able to make speeches and be able to stand up for people who are losing their job, in particular in Far-East Arnhem Land. And the Government decided they'd use their numbers to first of all say the question couldn't be asked, then a resolution couldn't be moved. Then they shut down every speaker who tried to speak. Then they said the debate in East Arnhem Land wouldn't happen at all.

We're not going to sit down and say, oh, look, sorry that we're here. We're not going to say, oh well you're the Government, we won't even raise our voices. If they think they can silence the Labor Party when it comes to defending jobs, as they discovered yesterday, they've got another thing coming.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Labor's Tony Burke.

But the Government says it was a disrespectful display and will investigate ways of making Parliament operate more smoothly.

The Leader of the House is Christopher Pyne.

Christopher Pyne, good morning.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Good morning Chris.

CHRIS UHLMANN: What was wrong with the way that Parliament House operated yesterday?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, the Labor Party behaved in a very bad-mannered and undergraduate way in the Parliament yesterday.

The Address in Reply is a debate when members of parliament respond to the Governor-General's speech opening the Parliament. It's a time when they can speak on any subject they like for 20 minutes.

And the Labor Party decided to disrupt that particular speech of several of my members which is, quite frankly, just very, very rude. And they were being rude not only to the members, but also to the Governor-General because that debate needs to be concluded and really because Quentin Bryce is retiring in a month or so we want to conclude it before she leaves.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Do you expect that anyone would have any sympathy with you given the way that the Opposition conducted itself in the last Parliament?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, I like to think Chris that while we were a robust opposition that held the Government to account and used the standing orders to do so, we never descended into the undergraduate and bad mannered and ungentlemanly behaviour that Labor descended into yesterday.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Surely that's a matter of opinion?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, I think it reflected very badly on them and I think the public would think it was very bad mannered as well.

CHRIS UHLMANN: You hold the record in fact for the number of visits to the sin bin at 43, two suspensions, 45 slaps on the wrist. The last parliament was described by the parliamentary library as the most disorderly in the nation's history, so surely the Labor Party has just learned from the master?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, a hung Parliament is a very unique beast in politics and of course we had more numbers, we had more votes than Labor in the last parliament so we quite rightly felt that the last government was illegitimately elected by independents sitting in conservative seats and we wanted to hold them to account and we did so.

That's quite different to the bad mannered way that Labor behaved yesterday. And I think Mr Burke needs to explain why he thinks that disrupting the Governor-General's Address in Reply debate reflects well on him because I don't think it does.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Now you gagged the Opposition Leader yesterday. Are you intending to take strong action now to try and return to Parliament to the order that you want?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: The public elected a majority government and they expect the Government to be allowed to get on with its program. Now Labor is frustrating that in the Senate, at least until June 30, by refusing to pass the repeal of the carbon tax or the mining tax or the establishment of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, or even vote for savings that they themselves had opposed when they were in government. So they are trying to frustrate the Government's agenda with every means at their disposal.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Can I ask you just for a personal view on Qantas? Does the view that the Government should stand behind Qantas and try and give it some sort of assistance have any truck with you?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, that's a matter for the Cabinet to discuss at the appropriate time, for Joe Hockey to consider as the Treasurer. We want Qantas to be a burgeoning, successful, growing business. At the moment they are hamstrung by the legislation which establishes the regime around which people can buy into Qantas. Virgin, their competitor, doesn't have those restrictions and that's one thing that we need to be considering as we move forward in supporting our national carrier.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Would you see that as different from the kind of assistance that say Holden or Ford or Toyota were seeking?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, neither Holden nor Toyota nor SPC Ardmona were restricted in their ownership in the way that Qantas is and Virgin is not. So we are in a unique position with Qantas. That doesn't mean that taxpayers' money should necessarily be stumped up to support Qantas, but we should certainly be looking at the ownership structure of Qantas and the legislation which currently restricts foreign ownership of it.

CHRIS UHLMANN: And perhaps providing a Government guarantee for its debt?

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Well, as I said, that's a matter for Cabinet to consider and the Treasury to consider at an appropriate time.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Christopher Pyne, thank you.

CHRISTOPHER PYNE: Thank you.

CHRIS UHLMANN: The Leader of the House and the Education Minister, Christopher Pyne.